Tineco Lingling: Adhering to user value innovation to bring better solutions to global users | WISE2024 Business King Conference

From November 28 to 29, the two-day 36Kr WISE2024 Business King Conference was grandly held in Beijing. As an all-star event in the Chinese business field, the WISE Conference has now reached its twelfth session, witnessing the resilience and potential of Chinese business in an era of constant change.

2024 is a year that is somewhat ambiguous and where changes outweigh stability. Compared to the past decade, everyone's pace is slowing down, and development is becoming more rational. 2024 is also a year in search of new economic momentum, and new industrial changes have placed higher demands on the adaptability of each entity. This year's WISE Conference takes "Hard But Right Thing" as its theme. In 2024, what is the right thing has become a topic we are more eager to discuss.

On that day, Leng Ling, the CEO of Tineco Intelligent Technology, delivered a speech titled "User Value Leadership, Global Deep Cultivation: New Ideas for Chinese Intelligent Manufacturing to Go Global".

Leng Ling, CEO of Tineco Intelligent Technology

The following is the speech content, edited and organized by 36Kr:

Hello everyone! Thanks to the invitation from the 36Kr organizers. The theme of today's conference is "The Right Thing", and I think this topic has many similarities with Tineco. How each enterprise does the right thing today, some people may find it difficult, but my perception is that the right thing may not be that difficult. So I would like to share how Tineco does the right things.

In the hearts of every Tineco person, they believe that the significance of an enterprise is to create value for users and for society. When we think from the first principles, what are the products and values we bring to users? Based on this starting point, the Tineco brand was born.

We are engaged in smart home appliances, which are closely related to every scene of users. The company adheres to the concept of "White Technology for Life, Small Happiness at Home". Many enterprises talk about how powerful their black technology and technology are, and how good their product solutions are, which is very cool. But when Tineco communicates with users, we never talk about black technology. We believe that when users purchase products, they value experience and value more. Therefore, we have defined a new concept for Tineco called "White Technology", which is to truly reflect and create with value. We hope that the products can bring a little bit of happiness to users, making them feel that this product is exactly what they want and are willing to pay for this value.

The predecessor of Tineco is a company with a history of more than 20 years, which has been focusing on the floor cleaning field. But in 2018, the company made a major brand upgrade and established Tineco.

Tineco is committed to bringing better solutions to global users. The first hit product of Tineco is the floor washer. Before 2020, in the Chinese floor cleaning market, the main cleaning tools were sweeping robots, vacuum cleaners, brooms, and mops. As a traditional cleaning enterprise, how can we enter such a market to find new opportunities? If we only make vacuum cleaners, no matter how good the capacity and suction are, is that what users need? The product experience has reached a bottleneck. If we make a super hit product, using the supply chain advantage to minimize the cost and lower the price to the lowest, is that what users want? No, it isn't.

What is our starting point at this time? It is whether we can find a blue ocean in the red ocean of floor cleaning. This blue ocean is to create a new category with a new product.

We have seen a major pain point in floor cleaning - mopping. The original tools for mopping are very complicated, including washing the mop, cleaning with dirty water, and finally dealing with the tools, which may also smell bad. At that time, Tineco began to think, can we use intelligent technologies, such as chips and sensors, to provide users with a better solution, that is, the floor washer. Users can use it as soon as they pick it up, and the cleaning tool can be self-cleaning without any operation.

Since Tineco entered the floor washer market, the entire industry has grown from a scale of 30 - 50 million to more than 14 billion. Tineco has been the leader in the floor washer industry for many consecutive years. Today, many guests have shared about the external environment. I think that every track will eventually change from a blue ocean to a red ocean, to a bitter sea, and finally possibly to a dead sea. In 2020, there were no more than 5 brands making floor washers in China, but by last year, nearly 200 brands entered this track. Everyone came in to do it, competing on price, industry, and competition.

In this process, the right thing that Tineco has always done is to continuously perceive user needs in the scene, lead the industry with technological innovation, and then fight quickly with speed.

When so many competitors rush into this track, as the pioneer and leader, Tineco's mission is to continue to make this cake bigger and bring the industry to a healthy development direction. We have made a multi-in-one combination product to meet the different cleaning needs of users. We have also pioneered the base station type floor washer series to solve the problem that users don't want to get their hands dirty and don't need to pour out dirty water. Some users also said that they want to mop under the bed, but the floor washer cannot lie flat. Tineco is also the first to make the lying flat feature into an industry hit and bring it to users' homes.

Up to today, the sales of Tineco floor washers have ranked first in the world*. In the floor washer track, we have continuously made many upgrades. We have connected the product with the user's home, believing that a good cleaning product should better integrate into the user's home. In the case of the industry's price war, Tineco continues to be high-end and leading. Our Fuwan Artist Series floor washer sold more than 100,000 units in two months after its launch, becoming a hit. This further confirms our strategy: Users like to buy valuable things.

Tineco floor washer sales rank first in the world

Tineco is not only making floor washers but also thinking about what kind of blue ocean can be found in the red ocean. Where is Tineco's ability? It is not to compete on price or efficiency, but to continuously find the blue ocean and continuously innovate.

In the kitchen scene, many people think that making food processors has no future and has been defeated by takeout. But what users want is a fast life while also eating nutritious and healthy. Tineco has pioneered the intelligent food processor track, cooperating with Huawei Cloud to apply AI to the user scene to help everyone cook. Our food processor not only provides a fixed cooking data package but also can learn through AI technology to achieve one person, one flavor, and a thousand people, a thousand flavors.

In addition, we have also seen the new track of the integrated water purifier and heater. Users have various needs for water, such as hot water, warm water, ice water, sparkling water, etc. We provide users with a new solution: to solve the problem of purifying water and providing water of various temperatures. Since Tineco's Yinwan Integrated Water Purifier and Heater entered the industry two years ago, it has achieved a growth of more than 400%, which is the highest growth rate in the industry.

Returning to going global, we believe that when many enterprises make the decision to go global, they often have different strategies and paths. Some enterprises choose to stabilize the domestic market first and then gradually expand the overseas market; some choose to enter markets such as Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, etc. first, and then march into the European and American markets. However, Tineco always firmly believes that the product needs and value expectations of global users are the same. Therefore, Tineco chose to go global on the first day of the brand's establishment, and our first product sale was born overseas. It can be said that Tineco has been a global brand since its birth to today.

Tineco's floor washers have been performing well in the overseas market. When we decided to promote the floor washer to the US market, there were many internal debates, mainly about the pricing issue. The price of traditional wet and dry vacuum cleaners in the US market is generally below $200, while we decided to set the price of Tineco floor washers at $399, which is twice the price of traditional products. This decision was very risky at that time, but we firmly believe that our product has excellent value and positioning, and is worth this price. Facts have proved that our decision is correct. Tineco floor washers quickly gained recognition and love from users in the US market, and the market share once reached 60% - 70%.

In addition to floor washers, Tineco's vacuum cleaners have also achieved remarkable results in the overseas market. We know that in the overseas market, vacuum cleaners are essential tools for carpet cleaning. However, traditional vacuum cleaners have pain points such as suction attenuation and dust dumping. In response to these problems, Tineco has developed a vacuum cleaner with a self-cleaning function, which not only solves the problem of suction attenuation but also allows users to no longer need to frequently dump dust. Once this product was launched, it was warmly welcomed by overseas users.

Furthermore, we have also seen the market potential of carpet cleaners. Traditional carpet cleaners have problems such as difficult operation, poor cleaning effect, and long drying time. In response to these problems, Tineco has developed a carpet cleaner with a power assist system and drying technology. When users use it, the machine can automatically predict and assist, reducing the user's operational burden; at the same time, after cleaning, the machine can quickly dry the carpet, allowing users to immediately reuse the room. This product has also achieved great success in the US market.

Leng Ling, CEO of Tineco Intelligent Technology

The reason why Tineco can achieve such remarkable results in the overseas market is inseparable from our in-depth understanding of user needs and continuous investment in technological innovation. We always firmly believe that only by continuously meeting the real needs of users can we win the trust and love of users. At the same time, we have also been committed to allowing global users to experience the innovation of Chinese products. Tineco's products are not only excellent in function but also have achieved the ultimate in design and user delivery. Every product we launch has been carefully polished and tested to ensure that users can get the best experience when using it.

Let me share with you that Tineco's overseas revenue has accounted for more than 46% of the total revenue. Our overseas online market share is far ahead and continues to grow. In terms of overseas offline channels, Tineco products have also entered high-end supermarkets in the United States, Europe, and other regions.

It is quite difficult for Chinese brands to knock on the door of offline channels when going global. The experience I would like to share with you is that when the product is expected by users in the market, the market will provide you with a position and let you in, making our knocking on the door easier, and the overseas growth can also meet expectations.

We are willing to ride the waves together with our peers and entrepreneurs here, do the right things, and we will reach our destination if we take action. Thank you all!

*Tineco floor washer sales rank first in the world Source: Euromonitor International (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., calculated based on the sales volume (in 10,000 units) of household floor washers of each brand in the global retail channels in the second half of 2023 and the first half of 2024.